Mustard gas [bis(2-chloroethyl)sulfide, b.p. 215.degree. C.] cannot be detected with high sensitivity by means of ion cluster ionization detectors. However, this problem can be overcome by dehydrochlorinating the mustard gas to divinyl sulfide (b.p. 85.degree. C.) and oxidizing the latter to divinyl sulfoxide, b.p. 81.degree. C. at 16 mm which exhibits high sensitivity by ion cluster ionization detectors.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a process for dehydrochlorinating mustard gas to divinyl sulfide.
Another object of the invention is to provide a novel process for dehydrohalogenating aliphatic and cycloaliphatic halides to the corresponding unsaturated compounds.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description.